THE plot to oust Theresa May as Prime Minister only benefits the European Union and Jeremy Corbyn stop Brexit, claims Conservative MP, Nigel Evans.

Another Tory MP Grant Shapps is behind a movement to mount a leadership challenge to force Mrs May out of Downing Street after losing confidence in the Prime Minister after her conference speech.

Mr Shapps claimed as many as 30 fellow Conservatives in Westminster had signed a letter as he continues to seek a total of 48, which is required to trigger a binding vote on confidence on Mrs May’s leadership.

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Shapps said the signatures come from wide-ranging sections of the party.

“They are Remainers, they are Brexiteers,” he told the Today programme.

“A growing number of my colleagues, we realise that the solution isn’t to bury our heads in the sand and just hope things will get better.

“It never worked out for Brown or Major and I don’t think it is growing to work out here either.”

Mr Evans, the MP for Ribble Valley, however, said the only people to benefit from the leadership coup would be the Labour opposition and the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.

“He’s doing a lot for Jeremy Corbyn and Michel Barnier, we know that during these discussions on Brexit – which his constituency voted for – that they point out to divisions in the Conservative party as one of the reasons they may want to stall these talks.

“He’s doing us no favours. I do not know if it’s a Remainer plot but if there are five former Cabinet ministers, it sounds as if they are people who have been sacked and there is a bit of bitterness.”

Mr Shapps’s plot has also been undermined by Charles Walker, the vice-chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs.

He also told the BBC the movement had minimal credibility and would fail.